Arizona vs. Washington State Preview

by joenewby4040 on Feb 25, 2009 5:41 AM PST in Basketball Comment 8 comments

Next Game

Arizona Wildcats
@ Washington St. Cougars

Thursday, Feb 26, 2009, 6:00 PM PST
Friel Court

WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS

The Washington State Cougars are coming off of a huge win AT Pauley Pavillion 82-81 . This on the heels of a loss at USC 51-61. The win at Pauley shows that this league can have an upset at any moment. Each team, save Oregon, has a guy who can go off for 30 on any night. Last Saturday, that guy was Taylor Rochestie. He went nuts, scoring 33 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. He also hit all 10 of his free throws. On scoring 33 points, he allowed his teammates to elevate their game as well and Klay Thompson, Caleb Forrest, and Aron Baynes all scored in double digits. UCLA is definitely on the skids, but Washington State turned in a gem on Saturday.

Unfortunately for Washington State, they also dropped the ball and suffered a defeat at USC on Thursday, losing 61-51. Taylor Rochestie scored 16 points on 6-13 shooting. The Trojans went on a 17-2 run in the first half to take control of the game. They led by 8 at the half and never looked back.

Let's take a look at Taylor Rochestie's stats, I mean, the Washington Cougars stats for the year:

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Taylor Rochestie	27	36.1	4.4	10.6	41.8	1.8	4.4	41.2	2.8	3.1	90.4	0.6	3.0	3.6	4.7	2.5	0.8	0.0	1.7	13.4
Klay Thompson	27	32.8	5.0	11.4	43.4	2.1	5.0	42.6	0.9	0.9	100.0	0.7	3.3	4.1	1.9	2.0	0.9	0.6	2.0	13.0
Aron Baynes	27	27.6	4.4	7.6	58.3	0.0	0.0	100.0	3.1	4.0	78.0	2.0	5.4	7.3	0.7	1.6	0.2	1.2	2.0	12.0
Caleb Forrest	27	22.6	2.6	5.2	50.4	0.1	0.2	60.0	1.0	1.2	81.8	1.2	1.8	3.0	0.8	0.5	0.4	0.4	2.2	6.4
Daven Harmeling	26	21.9	1.5	4.3	34.5	1.0	3.3	31.4	0.4	0.5	83.3	0.3	1.5	1.8	1.0	0.4	0.2	0.2	1.5	4.4
DeAngelo Casto	27	15.4	1.3	2.7	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1	1.8	63.3	1.1	2.7	3.8	0.3	1.1	0.4	1.3	1.4	3.8
Nikola Koprivica	27	21.7	1.3	3.4	39.1	0.5	1.9	28.0	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.1	2.3	2.4	1.6	1.4	0.4	0.0	1.3	3.5
Marcus Capers	26	14.2	0.5	1.9	26.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.5	0.8	59.1	0.3	1.8	2.2	1.1	0.8	0.2	0.2	1.4	1.5
Charlie Enquist	10	5.1	0.5	1.0	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.3	33.3	0.5	0.3	0.8	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.6	0.3	1.1
Ryan Bailey	2	4.5	0.5	0.5	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.5	1.5	0.0	1.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.0
Fabian Boeke	3	2.3	0.3	1.0	33.3	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.0	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.0	1.0
Abe Lodwick	18	6.9	0.4	2.1	18.4	0.2	1.5	11.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.7	1.0	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.1	1.2	0.9
Mike Harthun	11	5.4	0.3	1.0	27.3	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.1	0.2	50.0	0.1	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.6
Nick Witherill	5	3.6	0.2	0.6	33.3	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.8	0.0	0.6	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.4
	27	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.9	1.7	2.7	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

ARIZONA WILDCATS

The Cats travel to Pullman, Washington on Thursday on the heels of a heartbreaking loss at Arizona State. The Cats trailed by as much as 17 points and fought their way back to take a 2 point lead late in the half. They traded baskets with ASU and came out on the short end of the stick. It was a tough loss in Tempe, but the Cats should take nothing but positive things from the game. Kyle Fogg played wonderful. Chase, Nic, and Jordan all were on fire. Jamelle came in and gave nominal points, but did the job. I liked 99% of the coaching, and thought our drive was incredible.

Although we won at the Oregon schools, our record on the road is not great. We beat both Washington schools a couple of weeks ago and should be ready to play. Arizona went on a 24-2 run to help beat Washington State 66-56. Let's hope we can put together another run on Thursday and keep Rochestie under wraps. Let's take a look at the Cats stats:

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Jordan Hill	26	35.4	7.2	13.2	54.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.5	5.5	64.3	4.2	6.9	11.1	1.3	2.9	0.7	2.0	2.9	18.0
Chase Budinger	27	37.5	6.0	12.8	47.2	1.9	4.6	41.6	3.8	4.6	81.6	1.6	5.0	6.6	3.4	2.3	1.5	0.5	1.7	17.8
Nic Wise	27	36.5	4.9	11.0	44.6	1.9	4.5	42.6	3.1	3.6	85.6	0.3	2.1	2.5	4.7	2.9	1.3	0.1	2.3	14.8
Jamelle Horne	27	28.5	2.6	5.9	43.1	0.4	1.3	27.8	1.4	2.1	63.8	1.7	3.4	5.1	1.3	1.4	0.7	0.4	2.6	6.9
Kyle Fogg	27	22.0	2.0	4.2	47.4	0.7	1.7	40.4	1.9	2.4	76.9	0.7	1.5	2.2	1.4	1.1	0.8	0.0	1.5	6.6
Zane Johnson	25	19.3	1.7	3.7	46.2	1.2	2.9	41.7	0.4	0.6	73.3	0.4	1.4	1.8	0.9	0.7	0.5	0.1	1.8	5.1
Garland Judkins	18	12.6	0.9	2.2	40.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.6	1.0	61.1	0.4	0.6	0.9	1.2	1.2	0.3	0.1	0.9	2.4
Alex Jacobson	21	7.6	0.5	1.1	41.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.3	57.1	0.7	0.6	1.3	0.1	0.5	0.0	0.2	0.9	1.1
Fendi Onobun	24	6.8	0.4	0.9	42.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.7	47.1	0.3	0.6	0.9	0.3	0.3	0.1	0.1	1.0	1.1
David Bagga	4	2.3	0.3	1.0	25.0	0.3	0.5	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.8
Brendon Lavender	20	4.7	0.2	0.5	40.0	0.1	0.3	20.0	0.2	0.3	66.7	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.4	0.7
D.J. Shumpert	3	3.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.0	1.3	0.3	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	27	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.6	1.3	2.9	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Keys to the Game:

Wise Up. Nic Wise has been a star the last 8 games. We need his leadership and poise to keep us on track. He creates opportunities that don't even show up in the box score. We need him to have solid performances every game if we are to be competitive.
Chase Budinger's Defense. I think that the Cats will place Budinger on Taylor Rochestie for the game. We got burned enough against Arizona State to let someone pick us apart from beyond the arc. I didn't mind Pennell's move in the Arizona State game to not change up the defense, but with Thompson and Rochestie, we must not allow them to drain 3's all day. We are going to have to transition to man-to-man if we can't keep them under wraps.
Watch out for Thompson. Do y'all remember this? Klay Thompson has had some monstrous games this year and if you don't keep tabs on him, he can really punish you.

The Wildcats should be alright this Thursday at Pullman. I would be surprised if Washington State was favored in this game. We are still hot and our loss at ASU should not stop our momentum. Our guys still realize that they are playing at a high level, and minimal change is needed after the ASU game. Let's hope that Pennell can coach on the fly and adjust to Rochestie or Baynes if they start to get out of hand.

I am pretty confident. Thoughts?

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Comments

SI.com’s Wazzu site reports that the Cougars are first in the PAC-10 and first in all of NCAA in points allowed per game, with 55.1

Really? Is that a misprint?

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 25, 2009 8:43 AM PST reply actions

The score

of the Wazzu-UCLA game was 82-81, not 82-21. I know UCLA is slipping fast, but not that fast (unfortunately).

Arizona expatriate in Missouri

by Snakebitten on Feb 25, 2009 1:41 PM PST reply actions

I think

that’s what it says… I only took a cursory glance at the numbers, but it was plausible.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Feb 25, 2009 7:07 PM PST up reply actions

NEED GOOD INSIDE PLAY

these guys arent going to let us run and gun AT ALL. we need to establish the inside game right off the bat and KEEP doing all game long. Hill should have a dominant game. GO CATS!

by ZorbaForde on Feb 25, 2009 5:30 PM PST reply actions

Uhm....

The Washington State Cougars just stole the win in LA, not the Washington Huskies.

And yes, the Cougs have the best scoring defense in the nation. They’ve consistently been in the top 20 or so in scoring defense all season… as flawed a statistic as THAT is. We’re 19th in the nation in defensive efficiency (scores allowed per possession) and 342nd in the nation (3rd from LAST in Div 1) in tempo (possessions per game).

Whoever wins the style matchup wins the game. If you guys keep hitting threes and we can’t break the press, you win. If we can stop the inside game, pressure some of your outside shots and not turn over the ball under pressure, we win. Personally, I’m not sure I like our chances.

Hopefully it’s a good game.

by TiltingRight on Feb 26, 2009 1:40 PM PST reply actions